As the Govt struggles to address the electorate on its reluctance to fund primary health care. It rolls out Trojan horses one after the other to Australias GPs.
We will not abandon our patients to poor policy.

The government seems to have lost the goodwill of the profession about their Health Care Homes model. On Friday afternoon the details of implementation stage 1 were published and it was underwhelming – to say the least.

A health reform like this, which should focus on better integration, coordination and team care, must be planned and rolled out in collaboration with the profession and consumers, not quietly published on a Friday afternoon.

Despite initial reassurances from Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley, there has been no consultation with the profession. Many GPs have expressed concerns during the weekend or indicated that they have lost interest in the model.

Another Reblog. Sourced from another clinician colleague on GPSDownUnder closed Facebook group for Australian and New Zealand GP’s.
I thought this was a great article explains the complexity of the pain experience to both clinicians and patients.
The DIM -SIM model may well help our consultations with these very complex patients
By deconstructing and reconstructing the pain there may well be advances in recovery and therapeutic relationship.

Ever since Explain Pain emerged in 2003, Lorimer Moseley and I have been asked by clinicians for a “simpler version… for patients”. We actually wrote something in 2005 but we resisted publishing this “short version” for a number of reasons – the data showed that people, even without medical training could get it – the material in “Explain Pain” wasn’t too hard or complicated, rather most clinicians underestimated their patient’s ability to learn about, and understand their pain. Additionally, and also important, the material was changing rapidly and so too were delivery modes. Remember YouTube only started in 2005.

Since Explain Pain, many clinicians have written their own short manuals – some are excellent, some are scary, others are plain wrong and many defy basic multimedia principles. We’ve noted that some, including published books and manuals, closely resemble the structure, text, ideas and style of Explain Pain

Yesterday’s study linking paracetamol use during pregnancy with behavioural problems in childhood has hit news headlines around the world, and this morning ranked first among Australian health news stories, according to Google trends.

[Clarification: paracetamol brands include Panadol and Tylenol. In the US, the chemical name for the drug is acetaminophen.]

What is the fuss about?

A study published yesterday in JAMA Paediatrics analysed data from 7796 mothers from Bristol, England, who were part of a prospective birth cohort study in 1991-2. The self-recorded data included maternal use of paracetamol during pregnancy (at 18 and 32 weeks) and five years later, and the presence of behavioural issues when the child was seven years old.

The study found an association between antenatal paracetamol use at 32 weeks gestation and behavioural problems for the 7-year-old children, as measured by a high scores on a conduct…

Will you sit idly by and let this world go to the dogs? Well I won’t. I know we are all on information overload, with thousands of issues, causes and opinions competing for attention, shocking images flashed before our eyes before we can look away and paid advertisements, it can be difficult to know where you stand on important issues.

Information is not knowledge. I’ve started this blog so that I can independently share my personal views and partake in social and political commentary on what is happening in Australia and the world. I hope my blog may tease out some of the underlying tensions around what we hear and see and be useful in my quest for a better world, a more humane and caring society and social policies that work on the ground. Feel free to join me.

Those of you who know me, will understand why I am a big fan of social media. For…

The co-payment is coming back. Australians will have to pay more for a visit to the GP or specialist. The freeze on your Medicare rebate means you will get less back from Medicare. It is expected that many practices will stop bulk billing. Join the ‘You’ve been targeted’ campaign and let your local member know that you oppose the freeze on your Medicare rebates.

The Federal Government is reducing its investment in your healthcare by freezing your Medicare rebates. This means your Medicare rebates will remain the same until 1 July 2020, despite the cost of delivering healthcare services increasing (see graph below).

The freeze is a co-payment by stealth and the Government has implemented this measure to reduce the amount it spends on all Medicare subsidised services, including general practice services.

Your health is important. Please do not let the freeze on your Medicare rebates stop you from seeking the healthcare…

Health funding in an acute care setting, especially in a Primary Care setting is always an challenging situation. Bringing small business owners, entrepreneurs, corporates and non-medical stakeholders interests together and then expecting Public Servants to make sense out of all the issues was, is, and always will be, a dog’s breakfast.

General Practice has always been an easy target for the Bureaucrats when they needed a scapegoat. The Public perception of rich greedy doctors is an easy myth to perpetuate despite Medicare’s own statistics showing that Total Professional Attendances had increased by a mere 6% over the last calendar year.

The focus in the media has also been on bulk billing rates and no amount of factual information seems to shift the public perception. The belief that a Standard Medicare rebate for a GP with ten years of formal training should be less than $ 40 is ingrained and seemingly…